Botanical gardens – Not just for Grandmothers!

The Botanical Garden, Antwerp – Tinneke Voet

Really, like the title says… Botanical gardens are not just for Grandmothers. They serve many purposes, all year round. It’s great for a person of any age to wander through and relax. If you’re a hobbyist photographer, or even a professional one, you’ll probably visit your closest one quite often for some beautiful shots.

If you have a love of nature, these gardens serve another purpose. Quite often they have interesting flowers or plants from other parts of the world, with informative signs placed next to them. And of course, it’s just perfect for the perfect date. They scream romance don’t they?

Enough said right? Below we’ve listed some of the beautiful botanic gardens our locals like to visit…

Botanical Garden, Antwerp – Niko Caignie

The Botanical Garden in Antwerp (pictured above) is a prime example of a beautiful garden with rare and exotic plants and a great place to escape the bustling noises of the city. Another botanical garden in Antwerp is the one behind the St. Elizabeth Gasthuis hospital (pictured at beginning of article), which also gives you an escape route from the hoards of people shopping in the heart of Antwerp.

Jevremovac, Belgrade – Vesna Radovanovic

Jevremovac is a tad different than your usual botanical gardens in it’s appearance. It’s quite wild and not as perfectly ‘coiffed’ as the other botanical gardens we’ve mentioned. It’s still worth mentioning though, because of the many wild and rare plants and flowers that grow here. Especially in October, with the park coloring red, orange and brown, it’s a breathtaking visual according to Spotter Vesna.

Botanic Garden, Berlin – Robby Block

The Botanic Garden in Berlin is worth a mention because of the world’s largest greenhouse, the Tropenhaus. Other than that the garden houses an impressive amount of 23000 botanical specimens from all over the world. If you’re eager to learn more there’s also the Botanical Museum on this location.

Gradina Botanica, Bucharest – Alina Damaschin

Gradina Botanica is another botanical garden that is a little wilder than most. Predominantly untouched, this lush garden is a great day out any time of year. Granted, when covered in snow you probably won’t see too many green plants or flowers, but just imagine the picturesque view it’ll make, straight out of a fairy tale!

Royal Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh – Anson Clark

The Royal Botanic Gardens has been collecting trees, plants and flowers from all over the world since 1670 and is world renowned for plant science. Besides beautiful flowers and greener than green trees and plants, this garden also offers some spectacular views of Edinburgh city.

Palmengarten, Frankfurt – Carolina Leersch

It is an absolute joy writing this article, because every botanic picture is more beautiful than the last. This pretty one is of the Palmengarten in Frankfurt. With it’s autumn flower, the chrysanthemum and various strutting peacocks, this is a must visit.

Botanical Garden, Hamburg – Kyra Garske

This Botanical Garden is special because it has a ‘fragrance-tactile garden’, where local Spotter Kyra stumbled across a flower that smells like chocolate! The young, the slightly older, and the old can learn about plants and flowers through informative panels and touching and smelling.

The Botanical Garden, Oslo – Andrea Chirulescu

This Botanical Garden has many different gardens, like ‘Grandma’s garden’ (also not just for Grandma’s), ‘Rose Garden’ and the ‘Alpine Garden’. Along with these gardens there are multiple little lakes, or ponds artistically decorated with greenery and rocks.

Botanical Garden, Warsaw – Magda Przedmojska

This gaping ‘little’ fishy signifies the end of this list. His home is the Botanical Garden in Warsaw. With its ponds and glasshouses filled with cacti, tropical trees and plants this is warm and fuzzy spot to go to all year round.

Now don’t fret if your city wasn’t mentioned here, our Spotters have written about many more botanical gardens throughout Europe. So if you feel like a romantic stroll, a photographic challenge, escaping the rush of traffic, or just simply emptying your mind, you’ll be sure to find an oasis of trees, flowers and plants in your city!